The following is from an email I received from a Huffpo user who was banned. I don't agree with a lot of what he says such as praising Ahmadinejad or calling people "Zionist Jews" but he has some interesting questions for Huffpo on the hypocrisy of their censorship policy so I thought it would be interesting to post his email:
I have been banned, just recently..Not sure why, tho maybe a post to do with 9-11 did it..But here is my letter to Huff post. I note that Huff Post had itself been banned in China, so they are in no position to ban others and maintain any sort of moral high ground.
Note also that President Ahmadinejad's little truth session at the UN on 9-11, has forced Huff Post to break its own rule about airing Conspiracy theories and esp 9-11 ! LOL
The comments are instructive...,most mock Ahmadinejad. Yet if you go to a site like youtube, a much freer site, and its comments on his speech or interview with Larry King,...you get a very different set of views..most endorse Ahmadinejad, find him perceptive calm, a rational. Its as if this set of persons had been wiped off the face of Ariannas earth. Youtube comments are unmoderated...aka not censored. So it give us a better index of public opinion than HP. Since most of the permitted comments echo the official HP line.. how is this different to ,say, soviet times Pravda?
Its attitude to 911 truth pretty much exposes Huff Post as anything but an investigative journalism site. Its posting the atrocious and racist bilge of Ben Cohen and Bernard Levy should alert people that HP is not what they think it is.
amazingly a commentator of the above post got this thru: 'In any healthy society, free and open debate should be allowed. That's what our constitution provides. We also have to follow the money, as in Watergate and Iran/Contra'
So if you're reading this Arianna, why is HP behaving as if free and open debate is poison?
regards
Brian
Here is Brian's email to Huffpo:
Hello Huff Post,
Recently i went to your site to read an article and maybe post some comments..But when i came to do so, i found this waiting for me:
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Post a comment
Sorry, but you have been banned from commenting.
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I don't know where that came from, as there was no indication why the ban was instituted. However, I had been or was commenting on a piece by the Ben Cohen which went:
'With tiresome predictability, the Iranian tyrant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is again in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. And again, he is performing to type. Rambling, inchoate speeches about the decline of capitalism, facile equations of the Iran's judicial system with that of the United States, ranting about Israel - of course! - and a televised sit down with Charlie Rose. And Larry King.' Etc
I was astonished by the invective in that rant, and why you had actually published it. So here is what i wrote:
'With tiresome predictability, the Iranian tyrant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is again in New York for the United Nations General Assembly''
and with tiresome predictability the Zionist's slander a democratically elected leader of a independent state...But that's because he is not a sevant of either Washnigton or tel Aviv.
'Rambling, inchoate speeches about the decline of capitalism'
Giving excellent speeches about the corruption of a system that has impoverished even american citziens let alone the third world.
'facile equations of the Iran's judicial system with that of the United States,
the US judicial system which incarcerates on th basis of race and which has imprisoned the Cuban 5 for the past decade on trumoped up charges.
'To protest is to recognize the futility of dialogue with Ahmadinejad, a man who, when it comes to lying, enviably blends classical totalitarianism with postmodern spin'
When it comes to lying, be cant resist trying to outdo Goebbels with the Big Lie...iran is not a totalitarian state...if it was it would have the support of the US which has a history of backing totalitarian states etc.
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Now ive been doing some research on Huff Post and ive discovered that Your blog has been engaged in extensive banning and censoring of commentators. Here is a sample:
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2005/09/huffingtonpost.html
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/07/banned_from_huffpo_yet_another_reason_wh.php
http://assimilatedpress.blogspot.com/2007/01/huffington-post-censures-investigative.html
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/t/r/truthseeker77/2010/03/see-the-video-banned-by-youtub.php
Each of the persons posting here is disgusted by the very brazen and unethical way they had their commenting privileges banned, or comments censored..with no word as to why. Esp as we see Huffington post allows some truly disgusting persons like Ben Cohen and Bernard Levy (both zionist jews with an agenda), the later of whom is engaged in an ongoing attack against Iran, now using the case of a Iranian woman, Sakineh, accused of murdering her husband, to inflame a mob to back Israels demand the US and its accomplice NATO(aka EU) to attack Iran.Is his what HP wants? More war? Doesn't this violate your policies?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernardhenri-levy/sakinehs-attorney-speaks_b_682721.html
But whats really interesting and ironic , is that Huffington Post itself complained of being banned in China:
'You may have followed the ongoing controversy about the Chinese government blocking foreign journalists' access to certain Internet sites during the Beijing Olympics. Most of the attention has centered on the censoring of the sites of Amnesty International, BBC News and the Falun Gong religious group. Under pressure, the Chinese Communist Party has lifted the bans on Amnesty and BBC News, but one site has continued to be totally blocked: Huffingtonpost.com.
In Beijing, we can get Drudge; we can get Common Dreams; we can get Raw Story and Truthout. But Huffington Post: censored completely.
...
Twenty-nine years later, in terms of human rights, I don't think that too much has changed. I still have a great affection for the Chinese people, but even today, one never knows who is listening.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-wallechinsky/huffington-post-still-ban_b_116635.html
http://www.nationalreview.com/media-blog/33098/huffington-post-still-banned-beijing/tom-gross
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/banned-at-huffpo/
How can Huffington Post rebuke China for banning them, when HP has banned me and so many others for what is clearly political reasons? Read the above grievances...most if not all accuse HP of banning them for their political opinons.
But note that HP is accusing two of the US official enemies of HR violations , censorship and anything else they can come up with. SO is HP acting as an unpaid PR agent of the US government? Perhaps HP hopes no one will make the connection.After all its only the Chinese who institute bans.
Ive also learned HP has censored journalist Max Blumenthal:
http://maxblumenthal.com/2009/06/censored-by-the-huffington-post-imprisoned-by-the-past-why-i-made-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem/
the reason?
'Within a few hours, I received an email from a Huffington Post administrator informing me he had scrubbed my video from the site. “I don’t see that it has any real news value,” the administrator told me'
Or was because it expose the racist nature of israel?
Some points on HP policy:
Imaware you have set limits on what can be discussed...just as they do in China.
'We also do not allow the promotion and propagation of conspiracy theories, including those about 9/11. '
Promotion? Not allowing promotion is censorship. By keeping any investigation of 9-11 out of your pages, you ensure the public is left with the official conspiracy theory'
well, youve allowed the discussion of 'conspiracies' before..remember former contributor Jesse Ventura:
'
It’s worth noting that HuffPost already ran an excerpt from another chapter of American Conspiracies, about the US “war on drugs,” and they had no problem with that subject. But this one is, as we all know, taboo. Clearly, even to question the official story of 9/11 is to engage in “conspiracy theories” (as if the official story is not itself a “conspiracy theory,” and a preposterous one at that).
http://www.kocosports.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=32691
But significantly, by shutting down debate on 9-11 or any 'conspiracy' you are assuming the official theory is correct, and it should not be debated.You are acting not as a journalist but as an unpaid State Censor....
and: 'As such, we do not allow hate speech, nor do we allow speech that advocates or supports hatred or unlawful violence. We do not allow racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, or other intolerance. Likewise, threats of violence or threats to anyone or any group's personal safety are not acceptable. We also do not allow false claims or misleading implications that any individual or group perpetuates hate or unlawful violence'
and yet as i showed at the beginning, you posted Ben Cohens very libelous rant against president Ahmadinejad of Iran. Which i would read as hate speech.
Would you post it if the person libeled was president Obama?
So why is HP behaving in a manner that loses it good will with that segment of the public who should be its backbone? Do you really think you can disguise your actions with a few chosen policy statements?
its not as if Huff Post is not aware that banning is bad
here a ban is lifted because Facebook censors;
SO why does Huff Post BAN?
Monday, October 4, 2010
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I've never posted to Huffington Post ever. I just linked my Facebook account for the first time, and immediately upon login it says "Sorry, but you have been banned from posting". wtf?
ReplyDeleteI was banned once before for, heaven forbid, disagreeing with one of their writers. He attacked me within the forum, and I answered back using logic and analytical thought. I was immediately banned. A few months later I connected with another e-mail account, and disagreed with their continuous anti-Semitic remarks, and disagreed with their "Truther" stance. They also recognized that I was in the NYPD and part of the WTC search and rescue team - so facts got in their way. I was immediately banned once again - so fast forward a couple of years - I go to post today, and viola!
ReplyDelete"Sorry, but you have been banned from commenting."
Gotta love the hypocrisy!
I HAVE BEEN BANNED TOO. YOU FUCKING MUPPETS
ReplyDeletewell they are still banning people. My co writer on our blog was banned today - it's the first time for her. I've been banned with hundreds of fans who were pissed and wrote in and they, too, were banned.
ReplyDeleteArianna Huffington is a republican whore.